18-J

18-j

Theatrical release poster
Produced by Fernando Blanco
Cecilia Bossi
Diego Dubcovsky
Noemí Fuhrer
Marcelo Pavan
Jorge Rocca
Pablo Rovito
Luis A. Sartor
Fernando Sokolowicz
Guillermo Szelske
Juan Vera
Narrated by Norma Aleandro
Distributed by INCAA
Release dates
  • August 19, 2004 (2004-08-19) (Argentina)
Running time
 100 minutes
Country Argentina
Language Spanish

18-j is a 2004 Argentine docudrama film. The motion picture is a collection of ten, ten-minute shorts, by ten Argentine directors. The film focuses on the July 18, 1994 bombing of the AMIA Building in Buenos Aires, where 86 people were killed and 300 others wounded. The perpetrators were never caught. AMIA is the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, a charity, and the attack is considered the largest single incident of terrorism against Jews since World War II.

The film is a tribute to the memory of the victims from the Argentine cinema community, producers, and directors, and released on the ten-year anniversary of the attack. Each director portrays his or her memory and impressions of the event in their own way. The ten short films are shown in a sequence. The picture was co-produced by the INCAA (Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales) and ten of the most active Argentine producers. The film opens with a brief introduction by Argentine actor Norma Aleandro.

Background

Because the picture involved numerous explosions it was shot on an Argentine Army base. The short films capture Argentine life at several social levels, both Jewish and non-Jewish. The ten directors use a variety of cinematic styles: the sentimental, hard-hitting, and the abstract.

Distribution

The film opened in Argentina on August 19, 2004. In Brazil it opened October 4, 2004, at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. The film has been screened at various film festivals, including: the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, Palm Beach, Florida; the Washington Jewish Film Festival, Washington DC; the Haifa International Film Festival, Haifa, Israel; the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, San Francisco; the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival, Hong Kong; the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Boston; and others.

Production companies

Each of the following Argentine film production companies chose one director for the film:[1]

Ten shorts

(1) 86

(2) La Memoria

aka The Memory

(3) Untitled

(4) La Llamada

aka The Call

(5) La vergüenza

aka Shame

(6) Mitzvah

(7) La comedia divina

aka The Divine Comedy

(8) Lacrimosa

aka The Tearful

(9) La ira de Dios

aka The Wrath of God

(10) Sorprensa

aka Surprise

Reception

Critical response

Jonathan Holland, film critic for Variety, liked the various stories and how they provide a "perceptive overview of Argentinian society". He wrote, "This worthy and affecting homage features styles from abstract to hard-hitting. Political fest sidebars are the pic's likeliest destination, along with arthouses in territories with a cultural interest in the tragedy... As a byproduct, pic reps an often perceptive overview of Argentine life at several social levels. Though many of the dead were Jewish, most helmers have significantly emphasized the universality of the tragedy rather than focusing on Jewish victimization."[2]

References

  1. ↑ Raices del Cine article, by Carlos Winston Albertoni.
  2. ↑ Holland, Jonathan. Variety, October 30, 2005. Last accessed: December 18, 2007.

External links

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